Tennessee courts, if they follow the law, which they usually do, are very disinclined to make a party do something or to make a party refrain from doing something until the usual legal processes which occur after a lawsuit has been filed have taken place. The usual processes, which typically…
Tennessee law permits, under certain circumstances, a buyer of real estate to rescind a real estate contract and to recover any monies paid towards the real estate. If a Tennessee court allows rescission, the buyer will receive, at least, the amount he or she paid for the property. Moreover, a…
In Tennessee, either a husband or a wife whose spouse has died has the right to elect to receive, from the deceased’s spouse’s assets, an amount allowed by a Tennessee statute, sometimes called the elective share statute, as opposed to receiving the amount left to him or her under the…
In a recent insurance policy case, Lance. v. Owner’s Insurance Company, the Court of Appeals of Tennessee set aside a jury’s award of punitive damages in the amount of $267,500 against Owner’s Insurance Company (a subsidiary of Auto-Owner’s Insurance Company). The case involved the complete destruction of the Plaintiff…
In Tennessee, many spouses have joint bank accounts with rights of survivorship. Such accounts are considered accounts held by the spouses as “tenants by the entirety” unless the spouses have specifically agreed otherwise. Such accounts are referred to as “tenancy by the entirety accounts” or “entireties accounts.” A tenancy by…
As much as any other area of the law, the common law related to contractual rights and to breach of contract cases seems to be generally pretty consistent from state to state, but there can be differences. Sometimes, those differences might make a critical difference in a breach of contract…
Generally speaking, a shareholder of a corporation or a member of an LLC has no individual right against a third party for an injury done to the corporation or LLC. While injuries done to corporations and LLCs most always have a direct monetary impact on owners, still, such claims belong…
Tennessee breach of contract cases can sometimes be defended successfully by asserting the defense of mutual mistake. Here is a hypothetical example of a case in which the defense of mutual mistake would squarely apply: Seller sells a residential lot to Buyer. At the time Buyer and Seller sign their…
In Tennessee breach of contract cases, the defense of the statute of limitations is raised with some frequency. Most of the time that it is asserted as an affirmative defense, it will not defeat the plaintiff’s claim. It is one of the affirmative defenses which lawyers insert reflexively into their…
Many people who are entitled to benefits under a life insurance policy are denied the benefits by the insurance company on the basis that the insured (the person whose life was covered) made a misrepresentation. In life insurance cases where the insurance company denies payment on the basis of misrepresentation,…